Koraki v ČASu (Steps in TIME) is a genre cycle created by Jadran Živkovič and Nina Kuclar Stiković. The article was prepared for the Parada plesa portal by Daliborka Podboj.
Koraki v ČASu is this year’s new dance project by Jadran Živkovič and Nina Kuclar Stiković, which I followed at the repeat performance on 8 March (premiere 8 February) on the Main Stage of Španski borci. Koraki v ČASu appears to be firmly established on the Španski borci stage, as this year’s staging is already the fifth edition of their ‘steps’. It began in 2018, when the authors first stepped onto the Španski borci stage together with dancers of the Forma Ljubljana and Bolero clubs; in 2019 their second production on the same stage followed, Koraki v ČASu: Carmen. Then Covid-19 stepped in. After a three-year pause, in combination with the Forma club and students of the Alma Mater Europaea / AMEU Dance Academy, they stepped out again in 2024 under the title Koraki v ČASu: Sam(i), and in 2025 with Koraki v ČASu: Generalka.
In Koraki v ČASu, different dance styles are drawn together across the fissures of time — from ballet, tap, swing, jazz ballet and modern to partnering — in ten choreographic miniatures. The authors are the aforementioned Jadran Živkovič and Nina Kuclar Stiković; choreography: Rosana Hribar, Lucija Velkavrh, Tamara Divjak, Urša Grm Murko, Daša Janičijević (also graphic design), Špela Premelč, Jadran Živković; dance and choreography: Margarita Šunjić, Lija Mozetič, Špela Premelč; students of the AMEU dance collective: Nena Klinkon, Sara Pucihar, Irina Antonijević, Sofija Kozarić, Orly Manakhimov, Dunja Gavrilov, Tjaša Cerkovnik and Rok Pfajfar – Forma Ljubljana dance club.
Dramaturg Nina Kuclar Stiković completed her master’s studies in 2024 at AGRFT in Ljubljana, in Dramaturgy and Performing Arts, where she works as an assistant in dramatic writing. In the 2024/2025 academic year she enrolled in the new doctoral programme Art at the University of Ljubljana, which allows an artistic doctorate in the fields of fine art, design, music, theatre, radio, film and television.
Choreographer, teacher and dance coach Jadran Živkovič has been teaching tap technique for more than 30 years. He was the first in Slovenia to introduce and teach tap dance, and he has worked with generations of dancers and choreographers here; for several years he also worked in Zagreb, Klagenfurt, Prague, Belgrade and Sarajevo, and followed the largest dance festivals in the USA, where he served as a judge. He lectures at the AMEU Dance Academy on the course Foundations of Music through Tap I and II. He is the current president of the Dance Federation of Slovenia.
After the performance I asked Jadran Živkovič who the course he teaches at AMEU is intended for. ‘The course is attended by students of all departments at the AMEU Dance Academy. It covers: the language of tap and the definition of advanced tap concepts — a vocabulary of tap steps, single, double, triple and quadruple rhythm, syncopation, demanding following, more demanding jazz music and dance, more demanding hip hop music and dance (non-standard rhythms and counting in 5, 6, 7, 9), stamina, musicality, balance, strength, coordination, improvisation, a cappella, work in pairs, work in a group. To understand and perform rhythms we use our own body (body beat), tap shoes and various aids that produce a sound or tone. In performances we have already used sticks, basketballs, wooden balls, a bunch of keys and so on. Particular emphasis is on understanding non-standard rhythms. In rehearsals we often had first to work out what rhythm it was, and then to make a short combination to the same music.’
Koraki v ČASu opened with a choreography by Daša Janičijević, with no music but not in silence, for from behind the stage curtain came the quiet release of body percussion, clapping, voices and whistling, from near-silence to rising amplitudes of volume and shifts of speed. After a few minutes the view opened onto the lit stage, where the collective of nine AMEU students — Nena Klinkon, Sara Pucihar, Irina Antonijević, Sofija Kozarić, Orly Manakhimov, Dunja Gavrilov, Tjaša Cerkovnik, Margarita Šunjič and Lija Mozetič — were distributed across the stage, sitting, lying or standing. Supplely they performed their rhythmic dance concert of body percussion, while dancer Rok Pfajfar, in his tap shoes, added further to the rhythm. To the sonic intensity of feet striking the floor and hands striking the body, a suppleness of flights and leaps flared up and arms took wing in a vivid image recalling a flock of large birds. After five minutes, and in half-darkness, the group slowly emptied the space, vanishing imperceptibly, their rustlings still echoing quietly beyond the stage. It was a genuine concert of supple bodies and narrative rhythmic strikes, of bodily overtones — and a distinctive kind of research and creation, welcome at various levels of education.
Choreographer and AMEU lecturer Tamara Divjak, to the sound of the vocal Lakota Lullaby – Lakota song – cover by Alexia Evellyn, and with students Margarita Šunjič, Irina Antonijević, Orly Manakhimov, Sofija Kozarić, Sara Pucihar and Dunja Gavrilov, re-created a lyrical ballet choreography of ritual, of light youthful steps, of turning circular forms and pirouettes, in which arms opened wide to bow ritually to the earth or to open towards the vault of the sky. It was a dance of youth, of a spring rite, a supple fusion with the spirit of an ancient song in the vocalist’s interpretation.
Choreographer and teacher of ballet and jazz ballet Urša Grm Murko teaches and choreographs at the Forma Ljubljana club. For the collective of dance students, Grm Murko prepared a branching jazz-ballet choreography embracing moments of encounter, brief solo glimpses and links into smaller groupings and duets, accompanied by a recording of a jazz piano classic, Good Bait – Nina Simone. In the second part the piano composition takes on a touch of blues, which gives the group new inspiration for supple contractions and jazz melodics, while a short solo impression of flowing jazz dance comes to the fore. At the close, the rhythm and presence of the group are joined by the tap step of the dancer Rok, who draws the group into a connected cluster and a compact (courtly) bow, covered over by darkness. At the same time, in the dark, the rhythm of approaching steps could be heard: an inventive transition of continuous linking between individual choreographies that follow one another within the whole.
And it was already the turn of the second group of dancers, who stepped in the dark and marched onto the stage, slowly emerging out of the darkness: Sara Pucihar, Irina Antonijević, Tjaša Cerkovnik, Špela Premelč, Lija Mozetič and Rok Pfajfar, dancing a short tap choreography by Jadran Živkovič in a rhythmic harmony of tap steps, finger snaps and spinning balls. A truly pleasant, relaxing composition of airy lightness in silence, and of the concord of group tap dance, in an accomplished performance. After a certain dance sequence the group comes to a stop, stands still, gazes into the hall and then quietly heads for the exit.
Fifth in line came the choreography by Jadran Živković, Lija Mozetič and the dance collective, in which the solo of Lija Mozetič stood out, with everyone dancing to recorded music: Take a Quick Break – Bugge Wesseltoft, and Duduk solo by Dmitry Soul. The choreography began with the renewed lighting of the compact group bow that had followed the third piece, in the sense of a continuous linking of the pieces. In the glow of the lights and the sounds of the digital composition, the group surged anew, opened out and then gave itself over to the currents of rhythm and step. Amid the interweaving of group dynamics, the solo pulse of Lija Mozetič sparked, and the group withdrew from the field of view, opening space for Lija’s dance solo of intimate confession in its branching dance breadth. To the lyrical sounds of the ethno (duduk) flute, Lija at moments gives herself over to the supple softness of the Orient, which she connects inventively with contemporary and urban dance elements. The warm, melancholy sounds of the Armenian duduk bring the group together again, this time in calmer and more sensual interweavings, in a genuine embrace, until, in slowed supple flow, the group suddenly freezes in a vivid image. At that moment Rok enters with spinning balls in his hands, which could have been a possible ending — but was not: instead came the sudden flight of the dance collective into a new melody of Russian chanson, the song Koni priveredlivye – Vladimir Vysotsky, in the choreography of Margarita Šunjič. The nine of them took their places at once and danced eagerly to the chanson, in which the fastidious horses of life are roused while the poet drives them with a whip so as to finish his verses, ‘for God does not wait’. It is a poetic text about departure and about the wish to complete what has been begun, which coincides with Steps in Time… The choreography flows with a poetics of supple sequences in accord with the verses and the melody of the chanson, coming alive with feeling and poetry in the dance expression of the AMEU performers. Departure is the theme of the chanson, and it is vividly enacted in the choreography until only two dancers remain on stage: Lija Mozetič and Margarita Šunjič, the last to say goodbye, embracing in farewell and parting — yet not leaving the stage, remaining for a few moments in half-light, each on her own side.
The new, seventh piece follows the mood of Lija and Margarita’s meeting in a short, heartfelt choreography of exuberant spirit by Lucija Velkavrh, head of the jazz department at AMEU. So came their duet of reunion, first in silence, as they catch sight of one another, recognise one another and fall into an embrace in indescribable joy. To the music The Dance – Cinematic Orchestra, their solo outpourings follow one another and they give free rein to a duet of flights and partnering, in a dance of elated feeling and the joy of meeting again. And as they fly enthusiastically towards one another once more, (presumably) into an embrace, the shot is playfully cut off by a slice of light. In all seven pieces the dancers wore a two-part black costume of long trousers and a short top, stylistically matching their studio processes of dance, rhythm and creation.
The choreography of the eighth piece, based on a starting point by Rosana Hribar, head of the contemporary dance department, was put together by the dancers Margarita Šunjić, Sofija Kozarić, Dunja Gavrilov and Orly Manakhimov to the music Joe Dassin – L’été indien, a lyrical song of memories of an autumnal summer and a meeting on a sandy beach. In the expressiveness of their dance flights, the dancers entered singly or in a group, in their black leotards surrounded by the colourful freshness and whiteness of airy shirts. They swirled with fervour and let feelings and possible memories flow, in impressions and in the aesthetics of the dance connections between them that surround them as the days of their departures draw near. In the eight pieces of their presentation all the performers gave their all and delighted the audience with the presence and the aesthetics of the choreographies danced, rewarded with applause at the end of each piece. At the close of the staging, the well-earned time to unwind came for the dance collective in the last two pieces, in an entertaining, revue style.
Next came the ninth piece, choreographed by Špela Premelč, in which all the performers could freely unleash a new zest for life in swing steps — as a group, singly or in duets — to (good old) jazz: Lightly and Politely – Earl Hines, with its inviting dance rhythm and audible cheers from the auditorium.
The last, tenth piece, roughly seven minutes long, followed in the choreography of Jadran Živković, danced by all the performers in four dance sketches — the four seasons — to the music: Vivaldi – Spring, Gershwin – Summertime, Zoran Vujović – a variation on the theme Jesenje lišće, and Johann Strauss Sr. – Radetzky March. The walk through the four seasons began in spring, with a parade of the group of nine dancers in black costumes freshened by the fashionable addition of white handbags slung over the shoulder. Their refined bearing and the elegance of their steps gave the feeling that they were entering a scene from other times, and in the reflection of their manners and witty supple interweavings recalled the age of the baroque. And then summer was already sparkling and sunglasses came out of the handbags. A refreshing drink arrived on the red tray of a gallant, a dancer — sadly one glass short; the one left out showed her anger in the manners of the new days, though not for long, for the time of autumn followed, a time of rain and of a dance of spinning umbrellas. Winter did not lag behind, and the group lined up compactly before the auditorium, while out of the handbags came white woollen hats with white pompoms, which swung merrily to the rhythm of a heroic march and were above all wittily entertaining. After the first year, a new year spun round again on its familiar course, but with faster acceleration. The gallant brought the missing glass too, and as the music sped up, umbrella and pompoms spun faster. Then spring begins again — but, like all the seasons of that year, at the speed of reeling tape, in the acceleration of directed or structured improvisation. And then delight rang out in the auditorium and the bows followed one after another.
That evening we followed a splendid dance event of performance and creativity by students and graduates of the AMEU Dance Academy, under the guidance and in the choreographies of their teachers. They proved themselves not only in their artistic potential but also in the stamina and concentration gained over their years of study, allowing them to carry the almost hour-long dance project Koraki v ČASu through continuously and with verve.
After the splendid presentation by the AMEU students and graduates, in demanding choreographies and across a dance spectrum of different steps and rhythms, I asked Jadran Živkovič how time and space were found to stage their new success of dance steps in time and rhythm. ‘The process of creating each year’s performance in the KORAKI V ČASU series always begins with time spent together in the working environment of the Rute hotel in Gozd Martuljek, which has two dance halls. The aim of these preparations is to form the team, to become acquainted with the scenario, to divide the roles, to agree on choreographers, to agree on training and so on. The great majority of the team consists of dancers from the Dance Academy, and a smaller part from the tap section of the Forma dance club in Ljubljana. Together they all have a good opportunity to use the knowledge they have acquired and to broaden it with the skills needed to put on a performance. They can take part in the performance as dancers, choreographers, costume designers, props managers, graphic designers and more besides. The final goal is to shape a dance theatre — one that produces at least one performance every year.’
This year Koraki v ČASu, in addition to the premiere and the repeat performance I saw, is also announced for 7 May at Španski borci in Ljubljana — so more repeats than were planned, since interest in the performance is extraordinary, as it deserves to be.
Photographs: Tija Ažman.
Parada plesa is the only free online media portal specialising in dance in all its forms.